and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing." : 2 Kings xviii. 1: "Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah began to reign. 2. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: his mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. 3. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. 4. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it; and he called it Nehushtan. 5. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. 6. For he clave to the Lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. 7. And the Lord was with him: and he prospered withersoever he went forth and he rebelled against the King of Assyria and served him not. 8. He smote the Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city."-17. "And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rab-shakeh, from Lachish to king Hezekiah, with a great host against Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they were come up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is in the highway of the potter's field."-28. "Then Rab-shakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and spake, saying, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria: 29. Thus saith the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand: 30. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. 31. Hearken not unto Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig-tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: 32. Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land; a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil-olive and of honey, that ye may live and not die: and hearken not unto Hezekiah when he persuadeth you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. 33. Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 34. Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand? 35. Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand?" Chap. xix. 15: "And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth. 16. Bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God." 19. "Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only. 20. Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. 21. This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning him; The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. 22. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. 23. By thy messengers thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, With the multitude of my chariots I am come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon, and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the lodgings of his borders, and into the forest of his Carmel."-27. " But I know thy abode, and thy going out and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. 28. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest." 32. “Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with a shield, nor cast a bank against it. 33. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. 34. For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake. 35. And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. 36. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Ninevah. 37. And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia and Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead." 2 Chron. xxx. 24: "For Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks, and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks, and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves. 25. And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced. 26. So there was great joy in Jerusalem; for since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem. 27. Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling-place, even unto heaven." : Chap. xxxi. 20: "And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the Lord his God. 21. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered." Chap. xxxii. 23: “And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah, so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth." 33. "And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead." If, as is declared by Trinitarians, the child promised in ch. vii. 14, be the same that is alluded to in ch. ix. 6, and ch. x. 17, it is quite evident from the context, that he was to be the deliverer of the Jews from the hands of the king of Assyria, and was to be distinguished by the excellence of his administration and the respect in which he was to be held by all the nations. Making allowance for the hyperbolical style of Eastern nations, nothing can more aptly apply as prophecy than these passages do to the reign of Hezekiah, as described in the above extracts from Kings and Chronicles. But what, it may be asked, had the birth of Christ to do with the destruction of the king of Assyria? or how could it be said that before he "knew to refuse the evil and choose the good," the land of Syria and of Israel should be deserted of their res K pective kings, Rezin and Pekah, who were gathered to their fathers many years before his birth? This illustrious son of Ahaz was not the only king among the select nation of God, that was honoured with such names as Hezekiah or "God my strength," and “Emmanuel" or "God with us;" and also with such epithets as "Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace." We find several other chiefs of that tribe that used to walk in the way of God, dignified in Scripture with epithets of a similar import. Genesis xxxii. 28: "And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, (Prince of God:) for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Psalm lxxxix. 18: "For the Lord is our defence; and THE HOLY ONE of Israel is our king. 19. Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chosen out of the people. 20. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:" 27. "Also I will make him MY FIRST BORN, higher than the kings of the earth.” As to the word "a virgin," found in the English translation, I request my readers to advert to the original Hebrew by "the virgin," as well as to the Greek both of the Septuagint and the Gospel of Matthew, Tapévos, "the virgin," leaving it to them to judge, whether a translation which so entirely perverts the meaning preserved throughout, by men whom we cannot suspect of ignorance of the original language, must not have proceeded from a previous determination to apply the term "virgin," as found in the Prophet, to the mother of Christ, in order that the high titles applied to Hezekiah might in the most unqualified manner be understood of Jesus. The Evangelist Matthew referred in his Gospel to Isaiah vii. 14, merely for the purpose of accommodation; |